Gift of $20 million will aid women in sciences

An anonymous donor has given
Stanford $20 million to help boost the university's efforts at
attracting and retaining women faculty and students in science and
engineering, Provost John Hennessy announced Friday.

The gift will create three endowed
funds to be known as the Gabilan Funds, in accordance with the
donor's wish. The income from these funds will support three areas,
each with a preference for women: graduate fellowships in science
and engineering; a new provost's discretionary fund to attract
science and engineering faculty; and an undergraduate engineering
diversity fund.

"We're delighted to receive this
gift, which will go a long way toward leveraging our ability to
attract the best women in science and engineering, both as graduate
students and as faculty members," Hennessy said.

The gift provides $10 million to the
Stanford Graduate Fellowships in Science and Engineering. Because
gifts to that program are matched one-for-one, the anonymous
donor's gift will result in 34 annual Gabilan Fellowships for
graduate students, with preference given to women doctoral
candidates. Stanford Graduate Fellowships in Science and
Engineering reduce the university's dependence on federal support
for graduate students. They also allow students to choose the most
promising course of research rather than having to select a project
based on the vagaries of available funding.

The donor also is providing $8
million to endow The Gabilan Provost's Discretionary Fund with a
preference for women and with special attention to engineering and
the sciences. The endowment will generate about $400,000 a year and
is aimed at attracting and retaining highly sought-after faculty,
providing them, for example, with research support funding and
start-up funds to buy new laboratory equipment.

"This is a wonderful gift," said Pat
Jones, vice provost for faculty development and professor of
biological sciences.

"Progress in increasing the number
of women faculty in science and engineering at Stanford and
elsewhere has been steady, but slower than we would like in some
fields. This gift will certainly enhance our efforts to hire
outstanding senior women faculty and, by endowing Stanford graduate
fellowships, will boost the number of promising young women in the
pipeline."

The third part of the gift, $2
million, will endow The Gabilan Undergraduate Engineering Diversity
Program Fund in the School of Engineering, with a preference for
programs that prepare, encourage and support women as they pursue
their education leading to careers in engineering. The gift will
help provide more stable funding for existing and future programs
aimed at supporting women and minorities interested in science and
engineering. The programs include the Summer Undergraduate Research
Fellowships, which give students a $5,000 summer stipend for
working on a lab research project in collaboration with a faculty
member; tutorial programs; and the Stanford Summer Engineering
Academy, a program for incoming freshmen interested in pursuing an
engineering or science degree. SR